Chapter 102
this is a fictional story by realTensai
Every fiber of Alvis rebelled, warning him about his sure death. Yet once again he ignored these signs, clenching his fist to calm down his racing heart. He took a deep breath in and out, and quickly attributed the six ability points he had earned yesterday to his agility, hoping he could somehow keep up with Gilsymbato’s freakish speed. Alvis sparked his mana, letting it flow through his body, aiding his every move.
He was ready.
But so was Gilsymbato.
Gilsymbato’s crimson eyes locked onto Alvis, unyielding and merciless. Each slow step forward felt like a countdown to doom, the air thickening with a pressure so intense it pressed against Alvis’ chest. And then, with a grin that could only belong to a demon like him, he disappeared—a blur streaking straight toward Alvis.
“Earth Cannon!” Alvis shouted, his voice cracking under the pressure.
The ground trembled as jagged earth shot forward, aiming to stop Gilsymbato’s charge. But the SS-ranked calamity didn’t even slow down. The attack shattered against his chest like brittle glass, and before Alvis could react, Gilsymbato was there—so close that Alvis could see his grin widen, reveling in his futility.
Shit.
Alvis gathered all his mana in his arms and crossed them before his stomach as a devastating blow connected. Alvis’ ribs screamed in protest as he was hurled backward, the air torn from his lungs. He smashed through a stone wall, debris raining down as the world spun in a dizzying blur of pain and chaos.
HP: 236/300
Alvis opened up his inventory and took out his Ashen Cloak, hoping its passive healing abilities would ease his pain. Yet as soon as he finished and tried standing up, Gilsymbato stood in front of him.
“Fire Pillar!”
Gilsymbato caught flames. But instead of looking in pain, he looked annoyed at most and, with a powerful flap of his wings, extinguished the fire. However, Alvis wasted no time and used the split second in which Gilsymbato was distracted to run inside the building.
With every step he took, he created several earth walls and pathways, turning the multi-floored medieval building into a maze. Yet this wasn’t all. He also created waterfalls filled with electric energy inside some of these pathways and, for some, he prepared hidden earth spikes as a trap.
“This should slow him down,” Alvis thought as he suppressed his presence waiting behind the closed door in one of the rooms on the upper floor.
“Found you.”
The words slithered through the air like a death knell. Alvis didn’t even dare to turn his head, as Gilsymbato’s face peeked out of the wall, a hole having been smashed into it, his excessively wide grin making Alvis think he was trapped in a nightmare.
He immediately tapped the ground raising up an earth wall, yet Gilsymbato stomped, destroying it before it could fully manifest. He entered the room and there was nowhere left to hide.
“You got me,” Alvis said, forcing a weak smile as he raised his hands. But beneath him, the ground trembled. “Too bad I’m not staying.”
The floor collapsed in an instant, swallowing him into the darkness below. Alvis just let himself fall through the hole he created and thus escaped.
He thought.
“Enough of this nonsense,” Gilsymbato uttered, the strength in his voice having multiplied.
Just as Alvis slipped through the collapsing floor, a vice-like grip latched onto his arm, yanking him back into the light. The escape he thought he’d earned was gone in an instant. Gilsymbato’s fingers dug into his flesh like iron talons, his crimson eyes boring into Alvis’ own.
“Did you really think I’d let you go?”
For the first time, the smile on Gilsymbato’s face vanished. Suddenly, every hair of Alvis’ stood up, the familiar feeling of death encroaching. And before he even noticed Gilsymbato’s fist raised straight at his face.
“BOOOM!”
------
As Alvis opened his eyes again, the first thing he saw was the sky and the timer floating in the air.
02:04 Minutes left
I didn’t even last for a minute.
The second thing he noticed was his blinking system that wouldn’t stop annoying him in his peripheral vision.
Critical Condition
HP: 13/300
“Huh, why….” However, a burning sensation in his left arm made his entire body feel as if on fire and he dared to look to his side.
A pond of blood that only increased in size had formed beneath him, its source being his left arm. No, his missing left arm.
“Ahhhhhh!”
Suddenly all the pain signals in his brain erupted and Alvis almost lost consciousness. His brain tried to process when it happened, but it could only have been when Gilsymbato attacked him. He held on to his left arm but punched the rest of his body out of the building.
Alvis’ breathing became stocking as he saw how his health bar kept going down even though he wore the Ashen Cloak. His vision blurred and he could feel the fog in his head increasing, the thought of living on with only one arm making paranoia build up within him. Yet one thought took over.
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If I do nothing, I will die from blood loss.
Alvis gritted his teeth as he ripped a part of the Ashen Cloak to cover his wound. Then he bit his tongue and created fire to forcefully close the wound. The agony seared through him like molten iron, his teeth grinding together to the point of cracking. The acrid stench of burning flesh filled the air as his body convulsed involuntarily. Each second felt like an eternity, but the thought of dying helplessly spurred him on, his trembling hand refusing to falter. Tears escaped his eyes as he underwent this gruesome process, yet it had to be done.
“So you aren’t dead yet?”
The cold, mocking voice sent a chill racing down Alvis’ spine. His head snapped up, and there he was.
“Gilsymbato…”
Striding through the ruins like a king surveying his domain, the crown on his head glowed ominously. His once-bored expression twisted into a gleeful smile as he spotted Alvis still clinging to life.
However, the same couldn’t be said about Alvis, as his face just turned grim.
I won’t hold on much longer.
If Gilsymbato got him once more, he would die.
“I will put an end to your misery.”
Alvis summoned the last scraps of his mana, forcing himself to stand. His legs trembled, barely able to hold his weight, but he gritted his teeth. Yet Gilsymbato just vanished.
“Wha—”
He couldn’t even finish his sentence as Gilsymbato grabbed his throat and choked him.
“Alvis!”
The shout broke through the haze. Through blurred vision, Alvis saw three familiar figures rushing toward him—Chao, Nero, and Hibea. Relief washed over him, even as his body felt like it was shutting down.
“Let go of him!” Chao shouted with vigor Alvis had never seen by him before. The mana density around him increased as he held his hands to form a ball. “Earth ball!”
The orb hurtled toward them, its speed and weight impressive. But Gilsymbato didn’t even glance at it. The attack veered off course and headed straight for Alvis instead. Desperation kicked in, and he coated his remaining hand in earth to absorb the impact.
“Because of your anger, you misfired and your attack couldn’t even reach me,” Gilsymbato said, his voice mocking. “But even if it did, it would’ve changed nothing.”
“Are you sure about that?” Alvis said, his voice barely audible.
Gilsymbato turned his head to Alvis, and this was all he needed.
Alvis used all his might and rammed the earth ball into Gilsymbato’s mouth. The ball crumbled upon impact and one could see purple liquid trickling down his mouth. Gilsymbato’s eyes widened in horror and his entire body started shining purple. And in the next second, he exploded.
Alvis once again flew through the air as the explosion catapulted him back, yet he couldn’t care less.
“Did we make it?”
He stared at Gilsymbato, or what was left of him. His entire body was covered in blood, meat lumps next to him as his body had been utterly destroyed in the explosion.
“Alvis!” Chao’s voice cracked with urgency as he, Nero, and Hibea rushed to his side. “Y-You’ve lost an arm…”
“That doesn’t matter,” Alvis rasped, his voice hoarse but triumphant. “We won.”
“You did it,” Nero said, her voice trembling with relief. “Your plan worked.”
“We pooled everyone’s coins and bought enough mana potions, just like you said,” Chao added. “No one thought it would work, but…”
“It worked because you trusted me,” Alvis said, managing a faint smile.
Hibea’s smirk returned, her usual air of confidence restored. “Who’d have thought? The only way to beat that monster was to drown him in his own strength. I made the right call joining you.”
For a moment, the weight of their victory began to settle. Relief mixed with exhaustion as they looked at the aftermath.
Then came the laugh.
A low, guttural chuckle that rose into a maniacal cackle.
“HA...HA...HAHAHAAHAHA!”
A shiver ran down Alvis’ spine as time felt as if it stood still.
“This has to be a bad joke…”
Gilsymbato, who was missing parts of his body, whose skin was covered in blood, whose entire body just exploded, rose again. His black skin crumbled as if he was shedding it, destroying his body even more. With his skin now partially destroyed, his muscles, fibers, and veins came into view. However, his veins were purple. Purple veins ran across his body like a tattoo even reaching his face. As Alvis stared into his face, he noticed how his eyes and hair had turned purple too.
“Magnificent! Never would I have thought that you would manage to push me into my true form. Only a select few on this planet have achieved that.”
“True form?”
“No, this can’t be…” Hibea mumbled. “His mana is constantly increasing!”
“What?! I thought we had pushed him beyond his limit?”
“Purple veins, limitless mana... and that power,” Hibea said, her smirk replaced by a rare look of pure fear. “Yeah, there is no denying it any further. It’s him.”
“Do you mean Gilsymbato is…” Nero asked, her face filled with the same horror as when she heard about the Devil Cult.
“The Purple Embodiment of Destruction. The cursed Prince, Gilsymbato Esoenshi!”
“Oh, so you know who I am.”
“You’re an Esoenshi, part of the royal family rumored to be the descendants of the Devil.”
What? Descendants of the Devil? Gilsymbato?
Alvis’ brain could barely keep up, yet the vision of the Devil appeared in his mind and this otherworldly feeling of sheer might perfectly fit Gilsymbato.
“I don’t care about all of this. These titles, my family, and even the Devil himself; they are all beneath me. All I care about is becoming the freest version of myself!”
Once again, a mad smile appeared on Gilsymbato’s face.
“Now that I’ve reached my true form, there is no limit on mana I can take on, as my body doesn’t hold me back anymore. Unfortunately for you, it also means that I can use my magic.”
Suddenly, the battlefield crumbled beneath them; the ground dissolving into a vortex of shadows. When the dizziness cleared, Alvis found himself in a massive hall, its vaulted ceilings stretching endlessly upward. Torches lined the walls, their flickering flames casting long, menacing shadows. At the far end of the room sat Gilsymbato, slouched arrogantly on a gilded throne. His grin widened as his glowing purple veins pulsed like a heartbeat, illuminating his face. It was inside a castle and Gilsymbato was on the king’s throne. However, the hall was packed as everyone who had fled before had forcefully been brought into this hall.
Escape the Final Surge (Last Minute)
1. Survive the final field collapse where the safe zone shrinks rapidly, forcing all participants into close combat.
Alvis hadn’t forgotten about it, yet it seemed as if everyone else had. Now trapped, they were at Gilsymbato’s mercy.
“You’ve done well entertaining me,” Gilsymbato said, clapping his hands. “You are now allowed to die.”
Purple flames danced in his hand and every cell of Alvis’ urged him to take action. He gathered all his remaining mana, remembering the one and only spell in his arsenal that could save them. The air vibrated with the hum of gathered mana as Alvis raised his trembling hand. His vision blurred, his body screaming for rest, but he forced himself to stand tall.
He drew every last ounce of mana from his depleted core, shaping it into a singularity—a dense, swirling mass of energy that consumed light and sound. The pseudo-black hole pulsed erratically, barely stable, as he hurled it toward the encroaching flames.
The collision was cataclysmic. Light exploded outward, blinding and all-consuming, followed by a vacuum of silence so profound it felt as though the world had stopped breathing. Alvis felt the backlash tear through his body, his consciousness slipping as the spell consumed him.
——
“Hahaha, I knew it! You are the real deal, Alvis! You survived my Mana Flames.”
Gilsymbato’s voice reached Alvis’ ears, yet he couldn’t make out what he was saying. Blood came out of his eyes, mouth, and ears as his mana was completely depleted. His brain burned as if someone had rammed a knife into it.
Alvis had created a pseudo-black hole to counter the flames that came for him and his team. He instinctively knew that no other spell could stop them. And he was right, as he and his teammates survived. However, he used his last strength to see if anyone else had survived.
Alvis blinked against the lingering haze, his vision swimming as he struggled to make sense of his surroundings.
The hall was... gone.
No walls, no throne, no fire, no blood. Just endless nothingness.
“What... what happened?”
His voice cracked, barely above a whisper. He tried to move, but his body refused, pinned down by exhaustion and the weight of dread. He scanned the emptiness, hoping—praying—for a sign of life.
But there was nothing.
Just silence.
Everyone and everything was gone.
As if they had never even existed.
They are all dead.
Gilsymbato had killed the over two hundred people who had taken part in this quest.